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Why learn a dead/artificial language? | ||
Tags: Dead Languages | Reasons for study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| rdearman Senior Member United Kingdom rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5235 days ago 881 posts - 1812 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin | Message 17 of 70 12 April 2015 at 12:11pm | IP Logged | |||||
So perhaps that is your answer: Because they are there. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6702 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 18 of 70 12 April 2015 at 12:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The problem is that Mr. Mallory died on that very mountain. Was it worth the risk? Well, he thought it was and paid the price. I'm less keen on breaking my neck. Edited by Iversen on 14 April 2015 at 4:05pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| i_forget Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5196 days ago 35 posts - 38 votes Speaks: Greek*, English, Spanish | Message 19 of 70 12 April 2015 at 2:26pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The only point in this thread that I can understand is this:
> I think there is no other reason other than enjoyment. All other reasons, such as reading books etc, they don't mean much to me, its certainly not necessary to know the language in order to read. And it would be even counter productive if you did know it and tried to read, because you would certainly not be fluent, at least for the first maybe 3 years of your studies. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4233 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek | Message 20 of 70 12 April 2015 at 2:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
So, medicine, biology (which I've already mentioned), also law, linguistics and history are things, that are studied for enjoyment?
Are you saying one shouldn't read before becoming fluent? If so, what can you say about Listening-Reading, for example? 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| cpnlsn88 Triglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5036 days ago 63 posts - 112 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Spanish, Esperanto, Latin | Message 21 of 70 12 April 2015 at 2:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
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It's a very interesting question to put - actually a set of questions. From one angle
if you speak English very few people need to learn any other language. An argument can be made for some learning for cultural enrichment. If you work in another country, teach the language, translate, like to visit one particular country or set of countries, have family, friends or lovers of that language then learning a language has a good rationale. English serves as a sort of lingua franca for many people and so there is an argument for English on utilitarian grounds for those people. At the individual level this is true. There aren't many reasons to learn foreign languages out of just interest and certainly not to a high level. At this point one could just concede the argument and that's that. If you have no urgent utilitarian argument for learning a language then you are doing it for pleasure - maybe that distinction has a real world impact on how you learn. This is sort of the 'because it's there' and 'enjoyment' argument. The point about reading in the original is very valid. You can read a number of beautiful translations of the Iliad and judge on their own merits in the time you will have to spend to read in the original. Same with Beowulf. At the level of the individual that is true. At the level of humanity it's a sad picture. I may not read Koine Greek but I do want some people to read the New Testament in its original language (and not just translators and professors). These old texts can be read in perfectly adequate and in some cases excellent translations if that is the way you want to go. On another level it is a wonderful thing that, should one wish to, one can read the original lines of the New Testament, the Iliad, Beowulf and so on and catch the original cadences and rhythms. Whilst it is hard to read another language it isn't as hard as you think and in some cases much easier so I think it's a form of enjoyment out there for those that want it. As for dead languages, I don't think of them as dead, though some of them clearly are. The old texts I cited earlier are part of our living culture. I think there is some value in not losing our past including the languages that helped make us. The motivation for constructed languages is perhaps different. Of course there is the idea that Esperanto could one day be a lingua franca which puts all speakers on a level footing. In theory this is a great idea. It could only happen if there were enough speakers out there to make it viable. Plus there is the level of intellectual curiosity and the idea that learning Esperanto can help you learn another language afterwards because it is a lot easier than 'real' languages. I think part of the answer to the question is to ask how weird it is to want to know other languages and how easy is it to achieve? The polyglott community is probably more skewed towards learning languages for non-pragmatic reasons. But it's a vision of humanity that learning a number of languages is entirely possible for those who want to or need to and an idea that we can be enriched by accessing other cultures. (I should say this post affects me because I'm at some stage of learning Latin (not very active), Esperanto (beginner) and would like to do some Old English, Old High German, Koine Greek and Gothic). at some stage. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| i_forget Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5196 days ago 35 posts - 38 votes Speaks: Greek*, English, Spanish | Message 22 of 70 12 April 2015 at 2:47pm | IP Logged | |||||
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> So, medicine, biology (which I've already mentioned), also law, linguistics and
history are things, that are studied for enjoyment? Yes? I don't see why not. In fact studying any of the above in my free time other than a dead language seems a lot more stimulating to me. > Are you saying one shouldn't read before becoming fluent? If so, what can you say about Listening-Reading, for example? No it's part of becoming fluent... All of the above are. Let me repeat my point: Learning ancient Greek because you want to read some ancient texts in the original doesn't seem too bright to me. In fact it sounds like you are bound to fail with this approach. However learning it because you actually enjoy it, for whatever reason, yes you might succeed with that, but just because you enjoy it an you don't have a fixed end-goal in your mind. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| eyðimörk Triglot Senior Member France goo.gl/aT4FY7 Joined 4098 days ago 490 posts - 1158 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French Studies: Breton, Italian | Message 23 of 70 12 April 2015 at 5:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
Well, colour me not too-bright and a failure in English with my anglophone diploma because I did not learn English because I enjoyed learning English. I learnt English because I wanted to understand television and computers. I developed my English because that was the language of the non-fiction literature that interested me. Or is "you're unintelligent and will fail if you don't do it for the fun of it" something that only applies to dead languages? I suppose all of the Classical Archaeologists who have learn to sight-read Latin and Greek in order to go to graduate school because that's a requirement even if you're only going to work with material culture don't actually exist or are truly exceptional. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| i_forget Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5196 days ago 35 posts - 38 votes Speaks: Greek*, English, Spanish | Message 24 of 70 12 April 2015 at 5:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Yes it's relatively hard to be good at something if you don't enjoy doing it...
1 person has voted this message useful |
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